More than 170 business leaders, academics and NGO representatives gathered here today for the 5th CropLife Annual Conference to discuss the role of innovation and intellectual property in further spreading the benefits of the plant science industry.

Government advisors, developing country activists, business chiefs and inter-governmental representatives debated the nature of innovation and the importance of intellectual property to economic growth.

During a day of wide-ranging discussion, conference participants from more than 30 countries exchanged views in what CropLife International Director-General, Christian Verschueren, described as “an extremely useful way for us as an industry to gain added insight about how the landscape of innovation and intellectual property is constantly changing”.

“The aim of the conference was not only to reinforce the need for innovation incentives and the legitimate protection of intellectual property, but also to challenge our thinking by listening to the variety of different opinions that exist in this area.” 

According to conference keynote speaker, and special advisor to the British government, Charles Leadbeater, innovation relies upon “unlearning old ways of doing things as much as ‘relearning’ new ways of doing things.”

“Failure is an absolutely crucial part of the innovation process,” he added. “And in the future we will be seeing more ideas coming from more places.”

Other key issues raised at the conference included:

·     the important role of SME’s as drivers of innovation;

·     the industry’s need for predictable, stable IP protection and regulation around the world;

·     the need to balance IP legislation with public interest;

·     the massive investment by the plant science industry to bring a product to market;

·     the increasing importance of IP protection as the global counterfeiting industry grows;

·     the existence of a “knowledge divide” between developing and developed countries;

·     the appropriateness – or otherwise – of the WTO’s TRIPs agreement to development;

·     the cultural bias of IP systems built using Western philosophy and language;

·     the increasing importance of public/private partnerships to innovation – especially in developing countries.

A full summary of the conference, including notes on all of the speakers, will be made available on the CropLife International website.